GEORGETOWN, Guyana — President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Thursday issued a forceful call for Trinidad and Tobago to remove trade barriers that block Guyanese goods from entering its market, insisting that true regional partnership requires the Caribbean to “bat for Guyana” the same way Guyana has long supported the region.
Speaking at the sod-turning ceremony for the ANSA McAL Chateau Margot Mall, Ali praised the regional conglomerate’s massive distribution presence—its products are on supermarket shelves across the Caribbean and it already operates three malls in Guyana—but challenged the company to use that reach to elevate Guyanese producers, not just import foreign goods.
“ANSA McAL has the greatest distribution footprint in the region. Your products are in every supermarket,” Ali said. “So I challenge you today—with the support of the Guyana Marketing Corporation—to distribute Guyanese products in every one of those supermarkets. Not to come back with barriers and excuses, but to come back with a clear strategy so our small farmers and agro-processors can say, ‘ANSA McAL means something to me.’”
Ali said he is disappointed each time he visits regional stores and sees Guyanese products missing from shelves, despite Guyana’s major contributions to CARICOM in food security, energy, security cooperation and healthcare.
“We have made our fair contribution to this region. We have made a remarkable contribution,” he said. “Everything we are building—our healthcare system included—is for this region. The region must bat for us. ANSA McAL must bat for us.”
The president said Trinidad and Tobago, in particular, must end the non-tariff barriers and bureaucratic restrictions that prevent Guyanese goods from entering its shelves.
“You must remove those barriers in Trinidad and Tobago that keep our goods off your shelves. I am passionate about this,” Ali said. “Trinidad is our brother, our sister, our friend—but friendship must work both ways. We have simplified doing business in Guyana. Now let’s work together.”
To make access easier, Ali said the Guyana Marketing Corporation is ready to consolidate containers so even small producers can export. “If we must start with one or two containers, we will consolidate them. But let the small man get a chance to breathe and grow,” he said.
Ali pointed to the growing quality and scale of local production: honey being produced “at an unbelievable scale,” agro-processed foods from farmers’ markets, local clothing and indigenous designs featured in the new “Origins” fashion platform, and major investments in dairy, livestock, prawns, meat processing and grains such as red beans and black-eyed peas.
“In the next 18 months, Guyana will be able to supply the entire region with red beans and black-eyed peas. But for that to happen, the major distributors must be a part of the plan,” Ali said. “If we don’t get the support, we will build the infrastructure ourselves—create our own distribution arm, even with our friends in Brazil.”
He called on ANSA McAL to dedicate space in its malls and distribution chain for Guyanese-branded goods, and to incorporate local products—such as honey—into its own value-added manufacturing.
“We don’t want Guyana to be looked at only as a retail center. That is not the Guyana we want to build,” he said. “We want investment in the value chain. We want value creation.”
Ali also urged ANSA McAL to integrate community development—like volleyball courts, basketball courts and FIFA mini-pitches—into its mall design, saying social responsibility strengthens both business and national partnerships.
Despite the strong demands, Ali stressed that he sees ANSA McAL and Trinidad not as adversaries, but as essential allies in building a more equitable regional economy.
“I say this as friends. I say it as partners,” he said. “We don’t want to start from zero when you have all the experience in the world. We want you to support us.”
Ali said the region has been locked for too long in competition within small markets, instead of building consortiums and collaborating for efficiency and profit.
“If we can collaborate while still competing, we will all be stronger,” he said. “But it starts with fairness. It starts with putting Guyanese products on the shelves of the Caribbean.”